The Captain and the Navy
by Aneeta Potter
Summary: When a murder victim comes back to life in front of Gibb's and the NCIS teams eyes, their world is turned upside down. Just who is the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness? Set after Children of Earth, before Miracle day. Now Complete. Contains the Doctor in later chapters... Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

Agent Gibbs sipped his coffee, staring at the crime scene – he had seen many murders in his time, but this one was particularly grisly. The first victim, a young marine who couldn't be more than twenty five, had been shot straight through the forehead; an execution of cold precision. But it was the murder of the second man that caught Gibb's attention. He had been impaled – stabbed through the chest with some kind of long stake, which had been completely gone through his body and buried itself, fairly deeply, into the ground below. Further stakes had been placed into his arms and legs, almost as though the killer had wanted to prevent him from moving after he was dead. The stakes stuck out of his body, pinning the man in place. The murder was made even more gruesome by the amount of blood – if Gibbs hadn't known better he would have thought that the man had bled out multiple times.

Gibbs wondered who this mystery man was. The murderer had certainly focused on him; the marine had been shot quickly while this man had been killed slowly and painfully. The man wore a long, military style coat that was soaked in blood, but its pockets had not revealed anything that could identify him.

"Nasty." Said Tony Dinozzo, speaking to Ziva David. "You know this reminds me of a movie…" But they never found out which movie, because at that exact moment the impaled man gasped in a huge lungful of air.

For a second Gibbs just stared. Then he rushed over to the man who he had assumed to be dead. Fresh blood was pouring from him and his breathing was ragged; his face was scrunched up in pain.

"Ducky!" Gibbs shouted for the medic but he was already beside him, looking at the man.

"Ducky. That's an interesting name." The impaled man gasped – it was clear that he didn't have long left and there was little the medic could do. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Please can you pull…" His sentence trailed off and he gave one last, rattling breath before giving up the struggle to live. Ducky put a hand to his neck.

"He's gone. It's a miracle he managed to survive this long with these injuries. It's strange because I could have sworn when we arrived he wasn't breathing." Ducky said softly.

A few minutes later, Ducky and Palmer pulled the first stake from Captain Jack's arm. It was about a metre long, and made of a pale wood that contrasted with the dark blood. McGee came over and took a picture. "Strange murder weapon. Poor guy."

"Indeed." Replied Ducky. "I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like…" His words were drowned out by a huge gasp as Captain Jack Harkness was once again dragged back to life. Palmer gave a loud shriek and toppled backwards in shock. McGee also cried out and tripped over Palmer, falling down beside him. Jack flailed around and finding he could move an arm, gripped the stake in his chest and pulled it out, groaning with pain and exertion. With this done, his head lolled back and he once again stopped breathing.

The entire NCIS team was silent. Even Gibbs was shocked. Without speaking, Ducky pulled out the rest of the stakes in the Captain's body. The whole team watched in amazement as the bloody wounds in Jack's arms, legs and chest slowly knitted together. The silence was only broken when Jack once more came back to life, this time his breathing normal. He lay backwards, soaked in his own blood, too exhausted to move.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours, Jack found himself sitting in an NCIS interrogation room, still wearing his blood soaked clothes. Even his hair was full of the stuff. After reviving he had been driven to the Navy yard in silence in a pair of handcuffs. No one had spoken to him.

Behind the glass Tony, Ziva and McGee were watching. "How did he do it?" Tony wondered aloud.

"Certain Poisons will slow the heart beat so that it is undetectable." Offered Ziva.

"That doesn't explain how he staked himself." Tony replied.

"Well, we'll soon know." Said McGee. "Gibbs will break him."

As if in response to McGee, Gibbs walked into the interrogation room, sitting down opposite Jack.

For a moment the two men stared at each other. Then Gibbs spread pictures out over the table. They showed the crime scene – the bodies of both Jack and the young marine.

"Nice trick." Gibbs voice was low and intimidating.

"Thank you. Nice ass." Jack replied with a smirk. "I'll buy you a drink some time."

Gibbs didn't miss a beat. "I'm not sure you can in prison."

Jack laughed. "This is kind of exciting. A proper interrogation room. I've missed Earth." He sobered a little as he looked down at the photos, sighing when he saw the dead marine.

"You know him?" Gibbs asked.

"Not well. I met him in a bar last night. He was the honey in a honey trap."

"You mean he lured you somewhere."

"Yeah. Poor kid probably had no idea who he was dealing with. We flirted a bit before going outside. He said he knew this real nice private spot, and drove us there. When we got there we got out of the car and walked along a bit. He looked at me and said he was sorry, but they had promised him money, and all they wanted was to talk to me. Then the poor guy was shot through the forehead a second before the same happened to me. When I came around I got staked. Any questions?"

Gibbs looked at him. "You expect me to believe that you came back to life multiple times."

"You saw it." Jack looked at Gibbs intently. "I was dead, then I came back."

Behind the glass Ziva, Tony and McGee looked at each other, not quite sure what to believe. This was unlike anything they had ever seen.

"That's impossible." Gibbs voice sounded unsure, a rare thing.

"I'm an impossible thing. I'm immortal."

"If you're immortal, why would somebody try to kill you?"

"That's what we need to work out." He paused. "Now please can I have a shower?"

Jack got his shower. Outside, the team had a frantic conversation. This case had them all confused.

"You don't believe him, do you boss?" Tony asked.

"I don't know what to believe Dinozzo."

"I have never seen anything like this." Ziva added. "I honestly don't know what we should do."

"We let him work with us on the case. It's the only way we'll work out what's going on. Meanwhile we need to find out all about Captain Jack Harkness. Who the hell is he? And how did he pull off his immortality trick? McGee, I need you in the lab with Abby – see if there are any records of Jack Harkness and help her with the crime scene evidence. Ziva and Tony, find out about our dead marine." Gibbs looked at the team as they stared at him. "Go!" The team scattered, leaving Gibbs alone, waiting for Jack.

After his shower, Jack was feeling a lot better. He pulled on the NCIS overalls that he had been left, just glad that they were clean. When he walked outside, Jack found Gibbs waiting for him.

"Don't trust me huh? That's ok, I wouldn't trust me either."

**Please review so I know whether or not to keep writing**** this!**


	3. Chapter 3

Down in the lab, Abby was showering McGee with questions. "Come on Tim, spill! I know you have a theory"

McGee smiled. He had kept his thoughts to himself around the rest of the team, but he knew he could tell Abby what he really thought. "I think it's to do with extra-terrestrials." The rest of the team would have just laughed, but Abby believed in aliens, believed in McGee. "I'm sure he was dead. It can't have been a trick – there's no way he could have fooled us all." McGee added, taking in Abbey's thoughtful expression.

"If we can find out who he is, more will be revealed." Abbey said excitedly. "We have fingerprints, blood and facial recognition – and a name."

"Don't you have to process the evidence from the crime scene?" McGee asked.

"Major Mass Spec is already working on it," Abby declared, "but I do have a lot of evidence. Gibbs sent you to me for a reason Tim – you use your computer magic to find out about this guy, and I'll look at the DNA, fingerprints and facial recognition."

"Got it."

Ziva and Tony were also discussing the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness in the bullpen, even though they were really supposed to be looking into the dead marine. Both of them thought that the immortality claim was impossible. They were just debating the exact reason for the elaborate hoax when Gibbs walked in, Captain Jack Harkness behind him.

"Dinozzo, David – what have you got?"

"Our dead Marine is Private James Miller." Tony said quickly. "Considering he was only twenty four he had a hell of a lot of debt – and not with the nicest people. I talked to one of his friends on the phone – he went loan sharks to pay his mother's hospital bills. She died a couple of months ago."

"Any other family?" Asked Gibbs.

"Nope. His father died when he was eight and he has no extended family. It doesn't look like he had anyone to go to for help with his cash problem."

Gibbs knew that the debt reinforced Jack's story about the marine luring him to the murder scene. That didn't necessarily mean it was true – Jack could have easily looked the marine up before murdering him and inventing this elaborate story. But Gibbs gut told him that Jack hadn't killed the marine – after all, why would he have then remained at the crime scene. Gibbs sighed. This case was getting more and more confusing.

"I'm going down to see Abbey" He told the team." Jack, who had stood in silence up till then, made to follow him. Gibbs stopped him. "You're not coming with me." He handcuffed the Captain to the side of his desk chair. "Just because you're out of interrogation doesn't mean you're clear. You are still in my custody and still a suspect in a murder." He walked off, calling out over his shoulder "Dinozzo, Ziva – watch him!"

Gibbs walked into Abbey's lab a few minutes later, holding a Caf-Pow.

"What have you got for me?" He said, seeing that Abbey and McGee were looking excited.

"You won't believe this." Exclaimed Abbey. "Tell him what you found McGee!"

"The British Government has a file on a Captain Jack Harkness. It's taken some serious, never to be mentioned again hacking, but I've nearly got it."

"Nearly?" questioned Gibbs.

"Give me two minutes." Said McGee, turning back to his computer.

"What about you Abby?"

"Well, from my samples of blood, I can tell you that all of the blood at the crime scene came from the same person, apart from a little bit that came from James Miller. And that's a lot of blood Gibbs. I'd estimate about 80 pints. The human body has 18 at most. The same person must have bled repeatedly. I think Captain Jack Harkness is telling the truth!" Abby said, sounding both amazed and excited.

"How do you know that the blood wasn't collected over time, stored, and then planted at the crime scene?" Asked Gibbs.

"Because I did tests Gibbs. I'm pretty sure the blood hasn't been frozen – and to collect that much it would have had to have been collected over a fairly long period of time."

"Got it!" McGee exclaimed, smiling. "Pulling up his file now. It looks pretty extensive." McGee put the file up on the computer screens, and all three of them started to read it.

The Caf-Pow lay forgotten.

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	4. Chapter 4

Back in the bullpen, Jack was bored. He had been sitting, cuffed to a chair, for at least thirty minutes. Ziva and Tony hadn't spoken, and Jack was following their lead. Worse than the silence was the fact that they kept staring at him. Finally he gave in – he never could keep his mouth shut for long.

"Okay, I give up. Can you please say something? I'm dying here." Jack blurted out.

"You have not spoken to us until now." Ziva replied, sounding both apprehensive and a little relieved.

"I was waiting for you to talk. I thought that would be polite." Jack said, smiling, as though this was obvious. There was a long pause.

"What do you want to talk about?" Tony finally asked.

"I don't know. Aren't you guys supposed to ask me questions?"

"What kind of questions do you want ask to ask?" Tony said, smiling. Jack shrugged.

"Are you really immortal?" Ziva said, looking at Jack sceptically.

"Yep."

"And how did you get to be _immortal_?" Ziva questioned. Jack laughed – it was clear she though he was either lying or a nutcase. He got that a lot.

"It's a long story."

"We have got time."

"Something happened to me a while back. Well, sort of a while forward. I died, and then I was brought back, and ever since then I can't die." Jack's voice was intense as he spoke.

"Does it hurt?" Tony asked suddenly. He wasn't sure if he believed the Captain, but something about this seemed real.

"Every time." Jack closed his eyes as he spoke, looking older.

"You must have had a rough night then." Ziva muttered. Then raising her voice, she said "If you are immortal, not that I am in any way accepting that, can you age?"

"Very slowly."

"How old are you?"

"Well, it's hard to keep count, but I'd estimate my age at about 2300. Bearing in mind that a significant proportion of that was spent buried alive." Tony and Ziva stared at him. There was silence for a couple of minutes as they processed what he had said.

"Do you have a partner?" Ziva finally said. "Someone who is also immortal."

"I've loved a lot of people. And I did have a partner. Ianto. His name was Ianto. But nobody else is immortal in the entire universe. I'm all alone." Jack was surprised that he was being so open. But speaking to these strangers was surprisingly therapeutic. He hadn't been so honest with anyone for a long time. Ziva and Tony were looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and pity. Eventually, Ziva spoke.

"I am truly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." Jack suddenly found himself blinking back tears, remembering Ianto – how he smelt, the coffee he made, his immaculate suit. The expression on his face as he died in Jack's arms. That was something Jack knew he would never, ever forget. No matter how long he lived for.

There was silence again, for maybe fifteen minutes. However it wasn't awkward like the one that had previously hung over the three of them; it was pensive, thoughtful.

Eventually Tony spoke. "What do you mean buried alive?"

"Someone buried me." Jack said carefully. His time spent underground was not his favourite topic of conversation.

"What, by accident?" Asked Tony, sounding unsure.

"On purpose."

"For how long?"

"About two thousand years." Jack said slowly. It felt strange speaking about his past, it was something he rarely did. He had learnt that from the doctor. Never look back; you run and you keep running. Turn around and take a look at what you've left behind, and all you get is pain and loss.

"If you were buried for two thousand years you would have had to have been born that many years ago." Ziva sounded suspicious.

"No, I was taken back in time and buried." Jack said in a matter of fact sort of way.

Tony and Ziva shared a look. Jack knew exactly what that meant. They were both thinking that he was probably delusional. Most people from the twenty first century thought that time travel was completely impossible.

"Where's Gibbs?" Tony suddenly said, sounding impatient. "He's been gone for over an hour."

"I'm right behind you Dinozzo." Gibbs stated.

**Please Review, because I have no idea if this is bad or good.**


	5. Chapter 5

The file of Captain Jack Harkness was extensive, to say the least. It was made up of a mixture of text, photographs and videos that were difficult to sort through. What it did make clear, however, was that Jack had been around for a long time. There were repeated references to something called Torchwood, but little specifying what it was. Instead pages and pages were devoted to the cause of Jack's immortality – theories and evidence shoved together with no conclusion.

After reading for nearly an hour Gibbs had finally decided that instead of sorting through so much information he would just go and talk to the man himself.

"I'm right behind you Dinozzo." Gibbs stated, striding into the bullpen. He was a little dismayed that Abby had followed him and McGee from the lab, determined to meet the mystery man.

"Are you an alien?" Abbey asked Jack excitedly. "I analysed your DNA and it was normal, but that could have been a disguise or something, like you could have partially altered your biology so that you would blend in and not get caught out so that you wouldn't get sent to area fifty one if that's a real place. Is it a real place?"

"I'm human."

"Oh." Abby looked a little put out by the short answer.

"I know some aliens pretty well." Jack added, making both Abby's and McGee's faces light up.

Tony snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you, McGullible! You actually think he's telling us the truth."

"It seems that way Dinozzo." Gibbs said impatiently. "We read your file _Captain_."

"Anything good?" Jack asked inquisitively.

"Not really. It's a bit of a mess. So I thought you could elaborate a little more on your story."

"Hang on…" Jack paused. "Two things. Firstly, which file is it and secondly, how did you get it?"

"I got it from the British government." McGee interjected.

"Oh. They don't really know much about anything, to be honest." He grinned. "That must have taken some pretty serious hacking..."

"Their security was surprisingly poor." McGee said rather smugly. "All it took was-"

"Enough already." Gibbs said abruptly. "I want to know why our marine is dead. Which bar did you meet Miller in?"

"A fairly small place. I'll drive us there." Jack said quickly, taking in Gibbs frustrated tone.

Straight away Gibbs unlocked the cuffs and beckoned Jack towards the elevator. Tony, Ziva, McGee and even Abby looked up hopefully.

"Dinozzo and David with me. McGee and Abby, back to the lab." Gibbs did not want those two playing twenty questions with Jack.

"Wait! You haven't told us about the aliens yet!" Abby shouted across the room, but the elevator doors closed without a response.


	6. Chapter 6

There was no opportunity to talk on the way to the bar; Ziva was driving. Even Jack found the journey gruelling, and he had travelled with a worn out vortex manipulator carrying three instead of one. After pulling up outside their destination, and realising that they were all still alive, the four of them climbed out of the car.

"Do you always drive like that?" Jack asked. Tony laughed.

"This is where you met Miller?" Gibbs queried.

"Not in the car park. That's not very romantic." Jack said with a sigh.

"Do you have any idea where our killers met Miller? Or who they are?" Tony asked.

"I have a feeling they met him here." Jack said. "I gathered he was a regular. And as for who they are; I have no idea. I've pissed a lot of people off in my lifetime."

"I can believe that." Tony smirked.

"The fact that they knew I was immortal narrows it down a bit. But I can't work out their motivations. They knew they couldn't kill me." Jack carried on, ignoring the snide comment.

"Maybe they just wanted to hurt you." Ziva offered. "The stakes didn't exactly look like a barbecue."

"Didn't look like a picnic, Ziva." Tony corrected.

Jack grimaced. "If they wanted to hurt me I would have been kidnapped. But they clearly don't like me much." He thought for a moment. "If they knew Miller had debt problems they must have known he was a marine. So why did they pick him in particular?"

They stopped their conversation as they walked into the bar. It was still early, and there were few people around. Gibbs walked up to the barman. He flashed him his badge and a photograph; Miller.

"Do you recognise this man?"

"Sure. That's James – I don't know his second name. He comes in here a lot." The barman saw Jack. He pointed. "Last time I saw him, he was with that guy."

"Did he meet with anyone else recently?" Gibbs questioned.

"Uh… Let me think. Actually I do remember something. A couple of nights ago he met with some fishy looking people. I only remember them because they were so weird." The man lowered his voice. "They were wearing cloaks to hide their faces – I mean who does that, right. It makes you stick out not blend in. They didn't drink anything either."

"Did you hear any of their conversation?"

"Well, it would be against my principles to listen in." The man said, looking affronted. "But I may have _accidently _heard part of their chat, not when Miller came but before."

"You mean while they were waiting for him to arrive?" Tony inquired.

"Yeah. After he got here they got a bit more secretive."

"What were they discussing?" Ziva asked.

"Something about teleportation bases." He laughed at Tony's cynical expression. "I know right. I told you they were weird."

"Did they mention a base code?" Jack probed, suddenly more interested.

"A base what?"

"Code. A base code. Like a short string of numbers." Jack clarified.

"They might have actually. But I don't remember what they were. Sorry." He added the apology after spotting the disappointment on Jack's face.

The team and the Captain left the bar.

"So what's a teleport base code?" Tony asked, once they were back out in the car park. But before Jack could answer, a cloaked figure stepped out from behind the building. For a second they all stared at the figure, and the figure seemed to stare back. Then it ran. Fast, considering it was wearing a cloak.

"After it!" Jack yelled, and the whole team sprinted off in pursuit.


	7. Chapter 7

Ziva, Tony, Gibbs and Jack rushed after the cloaked figure. Up ahead, whoever lay beneath the cloak darted into a shabby building. The team paused at the door, experience telling them to be more guarded when entering an enclosed space. Gibbs, Ziva and Dinozzo drew their guns and carefully followed the figure in, Jack behind them as he was unarmed. The four of them carefully edged down a grimy, unlit corridor. There was a single room at the end, the door swinging forwards and backwards as though someone had just hurried through it. They cautiously merged at the door, gesturing to communicate. Then they went through the doorway, guns in front of them. But the room inside was empty. There was another door to the side of it, but when they approached it, they found it locked.

The room they found themselves in had a strange, rusty smell. Jack suddenly realised that he recognised it. He started to shout out a warning but it was too late. There was a bright light, a wrenching sensation, and everything went black.

The light faded, revealing that the entire team had vanished – leaving behind an empty room and an even stronger smell of rust.

A few hours later, McGee and Abbey were starting to get worried. They had just tried to call Gibbs and found his phone was disconnected. Trying the other team members had given them the same problem.

"They should have called by now Tim!" Abby sounded frantic. "All of their cell phones are off. They never turn them off. Something must have happened."

"Maybe we should tell the director…" McGee felt like he was in over his head.

"No." Abby said firmly. She didn't like Vance. "We shouldn't tell anyone else. This is to do with aliens. I know it. We can't trust anybody."

McGee thought for a moment. Then he was struck by something obvious. "I'll try tracing their phones." He started the search. A few minutes later and they had results. "Their phones must be off. But it's strange. All four of them were here…" He highlighted a point on a map, a tiny building. "Then, at exactly the same time, their signals disappeared, like they'd switched off their phones. But immediately beforehand their phone signals fluctuated massively. I've never seen anything like it."

He and Abby looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to do.


	8. Chapter 8

When Jack woke up he had a throbbing headache. It was a symptom he recognised and he easily identified the cause – a dodgy teleport device. Groaning, he sat up, and looked around. Next to him, the rest of the team lay splayed out across the floor, still unconscious. They would probably take longer to revive – after all, they weren't used to any kind of teleport, let alone the dodgy sort.

The room that they were in was fairly small; a perfect cube. The walls were made of some kind of metal – Jack couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but he knew for sure that it wasn't used in twenty first century Earth. There was a window, but was covered up with thick shutters made of the same metal as the walls.

It was then that Jack noticed – there was something wrong with the air. He breathed in nervously, wondering if they were being gassed. But the air was certainly breathable. In fact it was better than that – it was clean and fresh compared to the city air. Then Jack realised – the air was too perfect. It was like someone had determined the ideal atmosphere for him. Then he knew what it was: rapid atmospheric adjustment. Off world technology. The gasses he breathed in had ascertained his needs as an individual and altered themselves, becoming a suitable atmosphere for a human. Atmospheric adjustment was commonly used in ships that contained more than one type of species. And also in a fair few tourism planets and bars. It was a norm for a lot of places; nobody wanted to wear spacesuits all the time.

Jack was pulled from his reasoning by a low moan from Tony, who was coming round. He looked at the rest of the team and saw they were also showing signs of waking up. After about a minute they were all awake.

"What happened?" Tony spoke first. "Were we knocked out and moved?"

"That would explain my headache." Ziva stated.

"It's not that we were knocked out and moved. More like we were knocked out because we were moved." Jack explained. "And as for where we are, I can only guess – maybe an inter-alliance spaceship." He shrugged.

"What do you mean; we were knocked out before we were moved?" Tony was confused and his headache wasn't helping.

"We were teleported." Jack clarified. "We only passed out because it was so badly made."

"You expect me to believe that we were teleported and that we are now in space." Tony's expression was one of complete disbelief. "How did you figure that out?"

"I've been teleported before."

"If we were teleported, we could have been moved to another part of Earth." Ziva pointed out. "How do you know that we are on a spaceship?"

"I don't _know_. It's just a guess." Jack sighed.

"Well how did you guess?" Ziva pushed.

"We can't have gone that far because the teleport was so dodgy. I know we're not on Earth because of the air. The nearest planet with the technology we've seen these guys have is way too far away for us to have travelled to. So I'm assuming we're in space."

"What about the air?" Ziva asked with a frown. She sniffed it, looking suspicious. "It is just air."

"It's not though." Tony breathed in deeply. "I'm finding it really easy to breathe. I think it has more oxygen in than normal air."

"Have you ever had any sort of respiratory disease?" Jack asked Tony, looking interested.

"I had the plague a while back… How did you know?"

"Your air has more oxygen in than mine."

"It's the same air." Tony snorted.

"No. This air is adaptive. We are all breathing the air that is most suitable for our bodies. Obviously there are multiple species on board"

"Okay, this is ridiculous. Boss…" Tony looked sideways at Gibbs, who still hadn't spoken. "You don't believe this boss?

"I don't know what to believe Dinozzo." Gibbs said with a small sigh.

"I know how to prove it." Jack muttered. He tapped his wrist strap a few times. The thick metal window shutters gave a shudder and began to draw back. The four of them gathered round the window as it revealed what was outside. Ziva, Tony and Gibbs all stared, gobsmacked, at a sight they had never thought they would see – the cold darkness of space.

None of them spoke for a while. They were all trying to digest what was going on. Finally Tony spoke.

"Why are we here?" He sounded lost.

Even Jack couldn't answer that one.

**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Why are we here?" Ziva shouted, frustrated at the lack of developments. They had been sitting, mostly in silence, for what seemed like hours. In reality it couldn't have been more than forty minutes, but time seemed slow with nothing to do. Ziva was just venting, she didn't expect a door, seamlessly integrated into the wall, to slide open and the cloaked figure they had followed into their sticky situation to step through it.

"An excellent question, Miss David." The voice that came from beneath the cloak seemed synthesised, but expressive. "One I am now authorised to answer. We are terribly sorry for your wait – paperwork had to be completed before we could communicate."

"How do you know my name?" Ziva asked, intrigued.

"I know a lot about you – in fact I know almost all there is to know about everyone in this room."

"I doubt that." Jack said with a snort.

"You are perhaps the exception, Captain Harkness. But then, is there a creature in this universe that understands you? "

"Enough games." Gibbs was angry now; he hated being kept in the dark. "You said you were authorised – so why are we here?"

"The simplest way to explain would be a story. It starts here. You were right Captain, we are indeed aboard an inter- alliance ship."

"You had us under observation." Ziva cut in.

"Please Miss David. It would be better if you did not interrupt. As I was saying, we are currently on a ship with representatives from nine different civilisations. The aim of this expedition was to establish diplomatic negotiations between the unified conglomeration and a possible new ally. We were midway through our journey when an _unfortunate_ incident occurred. Three key leaders from different civilisations were murdered. Some of us believe that this is sabotage – that one member of the conglomeration alliance wishes to colonise or destroy the other members. It has, as you can imagine, led to much panic. It is a political nightmare! We do not want a witch hunt aboard this ship. I truly hope that there is a more benign reason for the deaths, or this could mean war. I suppose what I am trying to say is that the stakes could not be higher." The cloaked figure had spoken quickly and seemed panicked.

"That sounds like a nasty problem." Tony said slowly. "But I don't see what it has to do with us."

"And it doesn't explain why a United States marine was murdered." Gibbs added.

"Well, we needed to investigate the deaths of these three leaders and deduce the motivations behind them." The figure continued. "Obviously no one on board could be trusted with this task in case they were in on the plot. We needed an impartial inquiry, so we looked up the nearest civilised planet. We could not travel – this ship needs to be operated by a large number of people and it was considered unsafe to allow anybody to leave their quarters before the murder or murderers had been located. That is what brought us to Earth, an established level five planet. Investigation showed us that the best naval police force on your planet was NCIS, and that Agent Gibbs ran the best team within NCIS. So we decided you would be suitable for this investigation."

"Why did you need a naval police force?" Ziva asked.

"We are a naval ship." The figure said in a slightly condescending tone, as though this was obvious.

"What about me?" Jack asked. "I'm not a member of NCIS."

"While the NCIS team were indeed deemed the most suitable investigators, they did not possess any knowledge of other species within the universe. We searched for the highest authority on, to put it crudely, alien life-"

"I'm the highest authority on alien life?" Jack said with a snigger.

"No, that was UNIT. But you were the only one with _no _regulations on alien contact. The fifty first century is far more flexible I suppose."

"What does this have to do with my dead marine?" Gibbs demanded.

"Our probability matrix calculated that the chance of you successfully solving the crime if you had previously met was far higher than if you were strangers. So we set up a teleportation device – a limited one, as you remarked Captain Harkness; we had a small workforce due to restrictions. We needed you to meet each other – and what better way for you to get to know each other than for you to investigate a murder together. So we located a young marine, used him to lure in Captain Harkness and killed them both. We are truly sorry about the method used to detain you Captain; it was essential that you remained with the body of the marine and that the NCIS team needed to see you resurrect."

"You killed a marine as an introduction?" Gibbs said, his voice low and dangerous.

"It was unfortunate but necessary." The figure said sadly. "We selected Miller very carefully – he had no family and was about to be murdered by a loan shark in an extremely painful way. Killing him was… merciful."

"That's no excuse!" Gibbs barked.

"He would have been dead within twelve hours without our intervention. But I agree, it was regrettable. An act of desperation. But enough talk. You will help us."

"Or what?" Jack asked.

"Or this area will become a war zone – and Earth will not be spared." The figure's voice softened. "Please; we want no bloodshed."

Gibbs sighed. "We'll need to see the crime scene."

**Please, please Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

The ship was a mass of empty corridors and sealed doors. The team saw no one else as they walked towards the crime scene.

"Where is everyone?" Tony wondered aloud.

"As I previously mentioned, we are all confined to our quarters until this matter is resolved." The cloaked figure responded.

"Why are you allowed out then?" Jack challenged. "How can we trust you? You haven't even told us your name, or shown us your face."

"I am not out of my quarters, Captain." The figure drew back the cloak, revealing itself. What lay beneath was a metallic mass of wiring and sparks. The robot was humanoid, but had features that were barely defined. Instead of a face it had a speaker and what looked like a camera perched on a stand. "I am using this improvised device to communicate with you, while remaining where I am. And my name is Kyra."

"What species are you Kyra?" Jack asked.

"I am from the empire of Gorling, and my species are known as Gorlas."

"Wow! Are you from Synar? Cause I go there a lot when I'm a bit down." Jack turned to the others. "It has the best drinks on this side of the galaxy. And the best company." He said by way of explanation.

"I am not from Synar, but I visited it once."

"Have we met? Because it seems like you know me."

"It was many years ago, Jack. We got drunk together. I was using my second name – Perwa." The voice that came from the speakers became icy. Jack paled slightly.

"Perwa. How are you? I am so sorry about-"

"YOU STOLE MY SHIP!" Kyra yelled – they all jumped a little at the increased volume.

"I was going to bring it back, but I got a little side tracked." Jack defended.

"You got me drunk and we went back to my ship just so you could steal it!"

"That wasn't the only reason…"

"Don't you dare try and flirt."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Jack sobered up. "I was really young back then, and I'm not proud of the person I was."

"I don't want your apology. There are more important things to deal with right now than any previous history between us. I took out most of my anger when I staked you." With that said, Kyra sped up so that she was away from the rest of the group.

Jack gave a drawn out sigh. The rest of the team were staring at him accusingly.

"I think you should tell us a bit about yourself Jack." Gibbs said, voice low.

"Yeah." Tony was also looking angry. "You're from the fifty first century. You know some random alien who claims you stole her ship. And you're immortal. Just who the hell are you?"

"Ok! I'm from the future; born in the fifty first century. I was a time agent, and then I went freelance. I stole her ship after I left the agency – by then I was a conman. I'm not proud of it. That ended when I met a man who made me better. The doctor. I travelled with him through time and space, until… well I died. Death by Dalek. But I got brought back. And since then I can't die, not ever. The Doctor left me behind; he was so afraid of what I was. So I travelled back in time, joined Torchwood and waited. I met the Doctor again, saved the Earth and stayed behind with Torchwood. They got wiped out." Jack spoke heatedly and quickly. He took a deep breath when he finished his rant, calming himself down.

"How did you get brought back?" Ziva probed gently.

"Just take him to a bar and get him completely intoxicated. Then he'll probably tell you." Kyra shot back, over her shoulder.

"How did you know I was immortal? You didn't exactly seem surprised." Jack asked her irritably.

"I looked you up after you stole my ship. I would have come to see you on Synar but I'm banned. Your immortality is hardly a secret. You've died from alcohol poisoning often enough." Kyra snapped. "But I am interested in Ziva's point. How did you become immortal?"

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you. It's not like it can be repeated." Jack laughed uncomfortably. "A friend of mine absorbed the time vortex. I was dead, so she brought me back to life with that power. But she had no control over it; she brought me back permanently. I'm a fixed point in time and space; I must always exist. Even the Doctor can't fix me."

"So you have no choice in the matter?" Ziva enquired.

"No."

"Who is this 'Doctor'?" Tony asked.

Jack was about to answer when Kyra stopped outside a door. "Your questions will have to wait. We're here. This is where all three of the leaders were murdered. We left everything as it was – nothing has been touched. I am not allowed to enter; I will wait out here until you are finished."

"What about equipment? We need–" Tony started.

"We have provided the materials you use normally. They are inside." Kyra interrupted. With that, the door slid open and the team stepped inside the crime scene.

**Thank you so much to all the reviewers – they have been very helpful in ensuring that this makes sense. Please Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Gibbs never would have imagined that he would see real life aliens (albeit dead ones). So when he first entered the crime scene, he had a huge urge to sit down, shut his eyes and ignore the world for a moment. He resisted; as team leader he had to show strength, even if he had no idea what he was doing.

"You know this reminds me of a movie." As always, Tony broke the tension in the room with his juvenile behaviour. "AVP. Alien vs. Predator. The Predators put all these aliens underground so that they can hunt them, and there's like a massive battle between the two sides."

"How does that in any way resemble our situation, Tony?" Ziva said sharply.

"Well, the humans get roped into the mini war even though it has nothing to do with them. They have to pick a side." Tony sounded more serious now.

"We're not picking sides Tony." Gibbs said softly. He could tell that they were all on edge – the world as they knew it had been completely changed over a short space of time.

"One of those aliens kind of looks like a predator as well." Tony admitted, voice light again. "With all that body armour."

"It's not body armour." Jack informed them. "It's an exoskeleton."

The three bodies were all completely different in physiology. The first one, with the exoskeleton that seemed like armour, was larger than the other two; nearly twice the size of the average human. It was mostly humanoid, but had a long, scaly paddle coming out from its back. It looked a bit like a tail, but it was flattened out and less flexible – more like a weapon or additional limb. The second alien seemed shrivelled and pinkish, with darker red flesh on some points of its body. It had long, spindly limbs that could bend in any direction. The last alien was a greenish colour, and would have looked human if it were not for that and the strange blobs that covered its body. All three of the aliens wore fairly identical white uniforms with a curved logo printed on the front. For the NCIS team it was a surreal site.

"What does that writing mean?" Ziva asked Jack, pointing at strange looking symbols under the logo.

"I'm not sure. Probably 'Conglomeration Alliance' in different languages."

"If these aliens speak other languages, why did they talk to us in English?" Ziva wondered.

"You heard how synthetic the Kyrabot's voice sounded. It was being run through a translator." Jack explained.

The conversation was cut off after Tony pointed out something obvious. "We don't have Ducky. How are we supposed to find the cause of death?"

"Look right, Dinozzo." Gibbs instructed. On Tony's right there was a stack of objects – the promised equipment. In the pile there was an autopsy report; it was typed neatly in the NCIS format.

"Somebody's done their homework." Gibbs remarked.

The team clustered round to read the report. The cause of death was a poison none of them but Jack had heard of.

"It's really nasty; kills you about five minutes after you've taken it. It has no taste and works on almost all species. Painful too." Jack winced slightly as he remembered drinks he should never have accepted.

"Don't tell me you've tried it…" Tony muttered, noticing the flinch.

"More than once. It's pretty popular off planet. It's not even illegal."

"Why not?" Tony asked, confused.

"It's a component in the medicine for artificial gravity sickness. The poison can be easily extracted from the medication if you know what you're doing. It's bad news for us." Jack said with a sigh.

"Why?"

"Because the murder weapon is available in every bathroom on this ship. The killer could have gotten the poison from anywhere."

"But not everyone would have had access to this room. You need an ID to get in; I saw the scanner on the way in." Tony tried to ignore the setback. "We need a list of everyone who entered this room around the time of the murder."

"Would the killer need to be in the room to poison our victims?" Ziva speculated. "How was the poison delivered?"

"In the air…" Gibbs said – he had carried on with reading the report while the others had been talking. "Not only that – the air was poisoned from inside this room, which is sealed off from the rest of the ship when the door is shut. All of the rooms have an isolated supply, apparently."

"Hang on. You said the air was adaptive or something…" Tony remembered Jack's earlier ramble.

"Adaptive air doesn't stop the diffusion of external molecules. In fact it speeds up the process. There is no way that our poisoner could have left the room without being poisoned themselves." Jack grinned at this realisation. "They must have taken the antidote. That would take weeks to leave the system – we can still screen for it."

"How do we get that done?" Tony asked – there was no Abby to help.

"Via computer." He walked over to the pile of equipment and pulled out a tablet. At his touch it booted up.

"Verified. Captain Harkness. What service do you require?" A detached voice said.

"I need everyone on this ship to be chemically screened immediately."

"Estimated time of completion is one point five seven hours."

"Ok. You better start that then. And in the meantime, can we have a print out of the access logs for this room."

"Confirmed." Machinery whirred and thin, tough sheets of plastic left the machine with the logs printed on them. There were a lot of them.

"Better get to work while we wait then." Jack said, and they all took a sheet.

**Please be really nice and review.**


	12. Chapter 12

It turned out that the records of access were easy to sort through. After looking at how many plastic sheets had been printed, the team had been concerned. But they quickly realised that all the sheets were identical – the computer had (very cleverly) printed one sheet for each person in the room.

"Ok. So we have the three murder victims coming in here at three o clock together." Tony said, pointing to the records. "Then, after that – only one other person entered before the bodies were discovered."

"Somar Bilade." Ziva finished.

"Can we interrogate him?" Gibbs asked no one in particular.

"Possibility confirmed." The computer chimed in, alerted by the question. "Please stand by for teleportation."

"Hang on…" Gibbs started, but before he could finish there was that strange wrenching sensation again. This time, however, there was no pain and unconsciousness. The world just dissolved and reformed. The team found themselves in an observation room. In front of a thick layer of glass an interrogation room lay empty. Apart from the materials used, the rooms looked remarkably like those found at NCIS.

"On-board teleportation system." Jack told the slightly shell shocked team – they still weren't used to the new form of transport. "Now that was a properly built network."

"Why did we not teleport to the crime scene?" Ziva wondered.

"Teleporting too much can be bad for you." Jack explained. "They probably wanted to give us a break from it after our rough ride here."

The conversation was ended by the arrival of who they could only assume to be Somar Bilade. There was a flash of light and the suspect materialised in the interrogation room. The first thing Jack noticed about him was that he looked confused and disorientated. There had probably been no teleport warning for him and he had suddenly found himself in a strange room with no explanation of why he was there. The first thing Gibbs and the rest of the team noticed was that Somar was completely hairless – bald, with no eyebrows or eyelashes framing the four pairs of eyes positioned evenly around his head.

"He's a Gorla – the same race as Kylar…" Jack muttered. "If it is a plot from the entire civilisation, we can't trust her."

The reminder of Kylar pulled Tony's mind away from the case and back towards the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness. "How well do you know Kyra?" Tony asked, trying unsuccessfully to be subtle.

"Pretty well." Jack said with a grin.

"Did you sleep with her?" Ziva demanded, ignoring the uncomfortable look from Tony. Ziva didn't do subtle easily.

"When I was young. She was gorgeous. When this is over I've gotta get her another ship – if she isn't involved in this conspiracy that is."

"You slept with an alien…" Tony looked bewildered. "Do we all do that in the future…? Hang on. I thought you were gay."

"In the fifty first century we don't categorise like that. It's so dull." Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"You keep mentioning time travel. How is time travel even possible?"

"Enough chatter." Gibbs was back in control. "We have a suspect to interrogate. Watch his reactions." With that he strode out of the observation room and into the interrogation room.

Somar looked up as Gibbs entered. "Look, I don't know why I'm here but this has all been a big mistake." Somar's voice sounded as synthetic as the Kyrabots.

"How come he's speaking English?" Tony asked Jack.

"The automated air is translating. The vibrations that travel through the gas particles are being adjusted – essentially the sound waves are altered. It's clever stuff." Jack explained. Ziva shushed him violently; Gibbs was talking.

"Mistake?" Gibbs voice was harsh.

"I didn't kill anybody. I swear." Somar was jumpy and nervous.

"I never said you had. What made you jump to that conclusion?"

"There was a murder, now I'm being questioned. It wasn't a massive leap."

"Where were you at three thirty four days ago?"

"I was in my room. I didn't leave that day because I wasn't feeling well."

"Artificial-gravity sickness?"

"A cold, actually."

"See, we both know that that's a lie." Gibbs voice was menacing. "You were at the scene of a triple murder around the time it happened. So, I'll ask again. What were you doing?"

"Selling!" Somar shouted, cracking under the pressure. "I was in the process of selling them a new artificial-gravity med. The one we have at the moment is causing massive problems – if you don't take it right it can poison you, or you can easily convert it into a killer."

"Why were you keeping it a secret?"

"The civilisation that we're going to meet with at the moment is also selling it. But they're charging more for the formula. I know that my version is better, and I had two of the alliance members convinced already. They'd just told the third guy about it. The patent for this product is worth at least a billion credits. I was worried that the company we were planning to trade with at the new civilisation would compete more if they found out I had a better, cheaper version of their product."

"What happened at the meeting?" Gibbs demanded.

"The third guy told me that I shouldn't have gone against the company – it would be a diplomatic problem because they wanted the new civilisation to join the conglomeration. He said we hadn't kept it secret enough, he'd heard rumours of my formula while on the ship. He told me to leave so he could discuss it with the other leaders. He was pretty insistent and fretting about it, so I did. I swear I had nothing to do with their deaths." Somar was shaking – he was afraid.

"Boss." Gibbs turned to see Tony sticking his head through the door, motioning him to come outside. When he did, Tony had some news.

"We just got the results of the chemical screening back." Tony revealed. "Somar's clean – he can't be our killer."

**Please review! What do you think of the plot? Updates might be a bit slower from now on because I'm back to school... Sorry!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Okay. So we're sort of back to square one. Nobody took the antidote on this entire ship. The only person who entered the crime scene around the time of the murder has a fairly legitimate story." Tony said, slightly disheartened.

"We're not back to square one. We know why the leaders were meeting. We've heard about the pharmaceutical company on another planet that could have something to do with this whole mess." Jack pointed out.

"Are you sure that the new drug has something to do with the murders?" Tony asked.

"Pretty sure. It's a poetic murder isn't it – they were killed by the same drug that our parties are interested in replacing. Reforming artificial-gravity medicine is worth a huge amount of money, and money is a powerful motivator." Jack justified.

"But we still don't know who poisoned the victims." Tony sighed.

"I have a theory." Ziva had been quiet for a while, looking through something on a computer screen in the corner. "What if one of our victims was also the killer? The three leaders were the only ones with opportunity. Somar said that one of them was acting strangely – he was perhaps nervous about what was to come."

"That's a little extreme, Ziva." Tony said with a frown. "What's his motive? Why would our victim kill himself and two others?"

"This I do not know." Ziva admitted. "But after checking computer records I discovered that one of our victims was in contact with the planet this ship is currently heading towards."

"That's not unusual." Jack interrupted.

"No, but he was calling the very pharmaceutical company that are marketing the new drug." Ziva smiled smugly. "The computer is very helpful. However it cannot tell me who exactly the victim was contacting – the communication device is apparently shared amongst the corporation."

"That's good work Ziva." Gibbs said. "But we have a problem. We're thousands of miles away from the planet and possible suspects. There's no way we can confirm your theory." The whole team sat in silence for a while, trying to find a way to work around the huge issue.

"While we think, can we talk?" Tony whined. "I have questions."

"For who?" Gibbs muttered, looking irritated.

"Jack. The tension is killing me. Which films are still classics in the future?" Tony said.

"I was never much of a movie guy. Uhh… The Italian Job is popular. Not the original, they did a remake in the fiftieth century. Classic hit."

"You can't beat the original." Tony looked scandalised. "Are there a lot of movies in the future?"

"On some planets. You can get media chips for instant downloads into your head. I never got one though." Jack laughed. Tony was looking awed.

"Tell us about time travel." Ziva said suddenly, taking advantage of Tony's gobsmacked silence. "Where have you travelled to?"

"A hell of a lot of places." Jack said with a slight smile.

"What about Earth's history?" Ziva inquired curiously.

"I lived through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."

"World war one and world war two." Gibbs stated, sounding almost pitying. "You serve?"

"In both, yeah." Jack looked sadder and older. "Tough times."

"Which was worse?"

"For me, world war one. Everybody was so clueless and naïve about what it would be like – it was painful. Plus I knew no one would really win and we would all be back in thirty odd years. At least with the second one I knew we were stopping the Nazis."

"Could you not change things?" Ziva wondered.

"No. Some points are fixed and can't shift. Others are in flux."

"How do you know which ones are which?"

"I don't. But some are obvious; you avoid the big things. I'm glad I don't see the world like that. The Doctor always knows – he sees all the alternate timelines and understands the complexities of time and space. I don't think a human ever could." Jack said pensively.

"Who is this Doctor? Doctor who?" Ziva questioned.

"It's just the Doctor." A new voice said, behind them. The team turned around and gasped. A man, wearing a bow tie and tweed jacket stood confidently beside the recently opened door. But that was not what shocked them. Next to him stood McGee and Abby, grinning.


	14. Chapter 14

_A few hours earlier, back on Earth…_

McGee and Abby still didn't know what to do. They were pondering the conundrum of who to tell about the team's disappearance when a strange man walked in. He walked as though he owned the place – surveying everything with great interest and striding around with the 'I'm in charge' look. The man wore a tweed jacket and a bow tie. His clothes were out of place but he pulled them off.

"Who are you?" McGee said, frowning. Abby's lab was not the safest place.

"I'm the Doctor." The man said with a bright smile.

"You're British."

"No. I just have an English accent."

"Well what exactly do you want, Doctor." Abby cut in, slightly rudely. She was tense and upset – worried about the welfare of the team.

"I'm here to help out. I happen to owe Jack a couple of favours and I haven't seen him for a while. I figured I should drop in and visit. Where is he?"

"We don't know." McGee said miserably. Abby kicked him under the table. "Uhh.. what I meant was we of course have his location it's just that we can't tell you." McGee said a little too quickly. Abby scowled at him.

"If you're in trouble I could help out. I'm an expert." The Doctor assured.

"In what field?" McGee asked.

"In every field." The doctor said. "Which is why I can see that the four people you were tracking were teleported.

"What? How did you know we were tracing anyone?" McGee looked confused.

"You left it up on the screen." The Doctor whispered, pointing. Abby kicked McGee again.

"Tim! You just can't keep a secret." She scolded. McGee ignored her – he couldn't explain it but he already trusted this strange Doctor.

"When you say that the others were teleported – do you know that because of the signal fluctuations? It looked like some kind of energy spike affecting the whole electromagnetic spectrum." McGee probed.

"Very clever… Tim, wasn't it. I like clever. That is how I knew. And we can use the energy signal to trace the teleport destination and see where they went. I assume Jack is one of the four taken? He has a knack for trouble."

"Gibbs – my boss – Tony, Ziva and Jack all vanished. How are we going to analyse the signal?" McGee said quickly. He looked excited. Abby was also looking fascinated. She had lost her cold edge already and reverted to her naturally friendly state now that they had a chance of finding the team safely.

"There should be a secondary signal under the spike with a teleport base code and format code. We need to isolate them by filtering the off the carrier signal." The doctor explained. He was thrilled when both McGee and Abby understood.

"We could write a programme to do that." McGee and Abby virtually said in unison, and then laughed. They both typed at the keyboard, sharing it and occasionally snatching it from each other. The doctor looked on, impressed – while what they were doing seemed simple to him it was complex to a human; they were clearly very skilled with computers. He let them finish without intervening. After a long period of heavy focus and concentration the programme was ready. The codes flashed up on the screen; Numbers that changed every second, seemingly with no pattern.

"How do we trace it back to the destination?" Abby asked.

"With this." The doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and changed setting. He scanned the computers, importing the teleport data. "We need to get back to the TARDIS, we can follow them from there."

"What's the TARDIS?" Abby asked, intrigued.

"It's my ship."

"YOU'RE AN ALIEN!" Abby burst out excitedly. "AND YOU'RE WEARING A BOW TIE!"

"Bow ties are cool." The Doctor insisted.

"Ducky would agree." McGee said quietly; he felt slightly lost for words.

"You look human." Abby said, staring at the Doctor intently. "Is your biology the same?"

"No. It's completely different; I've got two hearts. And I don't look human, you look Time Lord. We came first."

"Time Lord? Can you travel in time?" McGee looked awestruck.

"In my ship; The TARDIS. You wanna see?" Without waiting for an answer the Doctor walked off with surprising speed, assuming that McGee and Abby would follow. They did.

**We're back to Abby and McGee for a little bit, but I'll get back to the rest of the team soon! It's kind of hard to write the Doctor; hopefully I'll get better. Sorry if updates are slow, I have some nasty exams coming up. Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

"It's bigger on the inside." McGee stuttered, his eyes wide with excitement and fascination.

It's dimensionally transandental." The Doctor said loudly, from behind the central console. He looked completely relaxed, McGee mused – this impossible ship was clearly his home.

"And we can travel in time?" Abby was also excited – she looked like she had a chain of questions and was planning on asking them all.

"Any time, any place." The Doctor answered. He'd done this talk before.

"Wait… what if I kill my grandfather or something?" Abby said with a frown.

"Why would you kill your grandfather?" The Doctor replied, looking confused. "Why are humans obsessed with killing their granddads?"

"I wouldn't. It's just an example. What if I cause a paradox?" Abby said, laughing.

"Time isn't fixed; it's always shifting. But your right – some points are certain, and you can't alter them."

"Like you couldn't go back in time and kill Hitler."

"Exactly." The Doctor said seriously. "Although you can lock him in a cupboard." He added thoughtfully.

"Can we travel somewhere? Like back in time?" McGee asked.

"Don't you want to go and find your friends first?" The doctor reminded McGee.

"Oh yeah." McGee looked slightly crestfallen.

"I'll tell you what though…" The Doctor muttered, more to himself than to Abby and McGee. "This trace isn't working. I'd say that Jack's faulty vortex manipulator twisted the signal a little… coupled with a slightly off base code… must have been a poorly wired transmission system… one hell of a headache when they arrived."

"Will we be able to find the others?" Abby's voice was concerned – she was always worried about the team.

"Most people couldn't. But I'm not most people." The Doctor declared happily. "It will be easier if we carry out the trace further away from where the teleport happened – it's a bit like the signal is being corrupted by another, and once we're out of range I can do something sciencey wiency and very clever."

"How far away?" Abby asked.

"Back in time a couple of hundred years!" The Doctor shouted, and pulled a lever on the central console down. After a few more strange objects were tweaked, they were off. McGee and Abby cried out as the TARDIS shook, not in fear but in exhilaration. Then it stopped. They had landed.

"You can take a quick look outside while I work this out. Don't wonder off." The Doctor said absent-mindedly, concentrating on his screwdriver and the scanner. He didn't elaborate or say anything else, so McGee and Abby stepped outside; they stood transfixed.

It stank. That was the first thing they noticed. The easily recognisable stench of human faeces was heavy in the air – looking around they could see the source was the filthy street they found themselves on. It was dark and damp, wooden houses tightly lining it, squashed together. Rats scurried around, staying a safe distance from the two of them. Smog also filled their lungs when they breathed – probably the product of too many coal fires. Overall the strange place was not pleasant – but McGee and Abby still felt giddy with delight and interest. They had travelled back in time. Until that moment, it had been possible to deny the reality of what was happening, but now the implications of all they had found out hit them. But they barely had a chance to appreciate it; it seemed as though they had gazed, stunned, upon the past for seconds when in reality it must have been minutes.

"Got it!" A triumphant shout came from inside the tiny blue box. "Let's go!" With that they set off again. This second journey may have come just minutes after the first, but McGee and Abby felt that they were very different passengers.

**Sorry about the late update, I've been really, really busy! I promise I'll unite everyone soon, I haven't forgotten about the rest of the team. If you have time, please review. Also, a puzzle; where do you think McGee and Abby went? Sorry if the next update is slow too, I'll try my hardest to make it quicker than this one.**


	16. Chapter 16

The TARDIS materialised in a fairly generic space ship corridor – it was clean, smooth and metallic, just like McGee had always imagined. There was a white logo printed on one of the walls, with "Unified Conglomeration" written beneath repeatedly. When McGee had first looked at the writing, it had seemed like a random sequence of strange symbols, but when he looked closer he realised it was English.

"Why is this written in English?" McGee asked the Doctor, who had just stepped out behind him and was carefully locking the TARDIS door.

"It's not written in English. It's written in all of the different languages of the alliance. The TARDIS translation circuits are just translating it in your head." Suddenly the Doctor breathed in deeply, wrinkling his nose. "Automated air… I hate this stuff." He muttered.

"Is the automated air why we can breathe?" Abby wondered aloud.

"Yep. Nasty tasting stuff. But this ship has so many different species on it that it's the only practical way of dealing with atmosphere."

"Different species?"

"This is an allied space ship – the Universal Conglomeration is big, and keeps getting bigger for years. It's a bit like a version of the European Union – countries keep joining up. But what are Jack and your team doing here?" The Doctor trailed off, looking into the distance as he thought. "I wonder…" Suddenly he straightened up and strode over to the nearest door. "Let's find them and ask. We'll have to check a lot of rooms, but the TARDIS probably brought us close." He opened the door silently, and glanced inside. He grinned at what he saw. McGee and Abby came up behind him and grinned too. The NCIS team and Jack were standing inside, so deep in conversation that they didn't even notice the new arrivals.

"Who is this Doctor? Doctor who?" Ziva was saying.

"It's just the Doctor." The Doctor answered, wondering why they were talking about him. The team turned around and gasped, mainly at the fact that Abby and McGee were somehow in space with them.

After a few seconds Jack found his voice. "Doctor." He stated it somewhat warmly, but cautiously. The Doctor wondered how long it had been since Jack had last seen him – after all, the last time he had seen Jack had been a couple of hundred years ago.

The Doctor smiled. "Captain. Long-time no see."

Jack smiled, warming up to the Doctor as always. "You've regenerated. You keep getting younger on the outside. How old are you now?"

"1104. I'm onto face number eleven. What about you?"

"A couple of thousand years I think; I lose track." Jack laughed slightly uncomfortably. "When I last saw you we were both a bit down."

"Oh. The bar. How long ago was that for you?" The Doctor questioned.

"Not long. I'm guessing it's been longer for you." Jack replied.

"A couple of hundred years. I'm sorry I didn't come and see you sooner…"

"Why now?" Jack looked searchingly at the Doctor; he always had a purpose.

"I miss my old friends. And you're my oldest friend. Plus I don't have to worry about screwing your life up, I already did that." The Doctor sighed sadly. "I got too big Jack."

"So did I." Jack also sighed. "I've been off Earth pretty much constantly for a while now. I'm avoiding people; memories of people." Suddenly Jack realised something and frowned. "Where's your companion. You're not travelling alone are you?"

"I faked my own death. No one even knows I'm alive. Well, almost no one."

"I'm sorry." Jack didn't know what to say.

"So am I. But it was for the best." The Doctor gave a weak smile. "It's good to see you Jack. And that brings me to the big question – why are we on an Universal Conglomeration spaceship with the most disgusting automated air I have ever breathed?"

The rest of the team had watched the strange exchange between Jack and the Doctor with bewilderment – they didn't understand what they were talking about but knew better than to interrupt with questions. But now they were jerked into action.

"We've been recruited. I'm Tony by the way. Uhhh… how did you get here with Abby and Tim?" Dinozzo asked nervously.

"We came in my ship. And I think you should tell me a bit more about the situation." The Doctor said shortly, making it clear he wasn't going to answer questions right now.

Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and Jack started to fill the others in – explaining their strange new case.

**I am so sorry for the late update and the short chapter. I have lots of revision. If you have a second please be nice and review. Thanks very much.**


	17. Chapter 17

"So basically they thought that instead of informing the shadow proclamation and having a proper investigation they would go to the nearest planet with slightly intelligent inhabitants and drag them into things they had no way of understanding by informing them that if they didn't help their planet would be destroyed." The doctor summarised angrily. Abby marvelled at how easily he changed tone from light hearted to intense.

"Well, they knew I was there to help." Jack pointed out.

"How?" the Doctor said sharply.

"Apparently I'm known as Earth's resident alien expert; the one who doesn't fill out any paperwork at least." Jack said with a grin.

"Still. You said it yourself, you've been avoiding Earth. How did they find you?" The Doctor asked thoughtfully.

"I would guess they performed a planetary DNA scan."

"How did they get your DNA?" Abby asked, grateful that forensics was something she could understand.

"Well…" Jack looked slightly awkward. "I may have met the person in charge of the investigation, Kyra, before in… close contact. You remember when I first met you and I had a ship." Jack addressed the Doctor.

"The one that got blown up?" the Doctor remembered. "It was a bit small."

"We can't all have a TARDIS. Anyway, I may have borrowed the ship from Kyra by buying her a few too many drinks and going back to her ship and… well you know what comes next. Afterwards when she was asleep I dropped her out of the ship and flew off." He looked a bit guilty. "I left her clothes." He added defensively.

"She kept your DNA." The Doctor sounded bemused. "That's one hell of a grudge."

"This is very interesting and all, but don't you think we should get cracking on the investigation?" Tony cut in.

"Right. Of course." The Doctor proclaimed. "Are you going to be all police like and get out special sprays and take photographs?" He sounded rather excited by the thought. But then again, Abby mused, he seemed to have the ability to be excited by almost anything; on the outside at least. She had never really met anyone who could rival her enthusiasm before.

"Hang on. I've just thought of something." McGee spoke up slightly nervously. "You said no one had taken the antidote for the poison, and it's a bit unlikely someone would poison themselves. What about a robot?" The whole team stared at him, amazed they hadn't thought of it themselves. "Are there access logs for robots?" McGee continued. Even the Doctor looked impressed.

"No. We checked all the logs." Ziva said confidently.

"That's a security risk." Tony muttered.

"How would the robot enter the room without going through the scanner?" McGee pondered.

"Robots have a special key, like a master key that a caretaker has. It's not recorded." Jack explained. "Almost all the robots are fixed in position – since so few need to move around, they don't bother keeping track."

"Definitely a security risk" Tony muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Is there any way we can find out which robot entered at the time of the murder?" McGee asked no one in particular.

"We could trace the electronic tag that the robot used to enter by scanning the ID dock. Unrecorded access usually confuses the computer enough to leave a trace – an identifiable trace." The Doctor answered.

"Like a robo-fingerprint!" Abby exclaimed.

"Exactly." The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started making adjustments.

"Won't we need to go to the ID dock?" Tony asked. "It's a while away, or at least I assume it is."

"No need." The Doctor murmured – he was concentrating on his screwdriver. "I can do it remotely. Just give me a minute." The screwdriver suddenly emitted a high pitched tone. Abby put her hands over her ears – it was even too much for her, and she played music _loud._

"Got it. One robot accessed and left around the time." The Doctor said intensely. "I'll just cross reference it with building records for robotics." He pointed the screwdriver at the computer screen and pressed. An image flashed up on the screen.

Everyone except the Doctor, McGee and Abby gasped. Gibbs glared at the screen.

"What is it?" McGee asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"That's the Kyrabot." Tony explained. "Kyra's our killer."

**I FINISHED MY EXAMS! Finally I am free. So sorry for the lateness, but Maths and similar got in the way. I will update much faster now that I have free time again. I know it's been a few weeks… sorry. Please review and say if you have anything you want me to add in… **


	18. Chapter 18

"Why would Kyra kill them?" Jack spluttered. "What's in it for her?"

"Many things, _Jack." _Kyra sneered as her image flashed up on the computer screen. Her dark scowl twisted her face – it differed from the gorgeous one in Jack's memory. But he knew better than anyone that people changed.

"You set this up?" Jack asked angrily.

"Of course. I kept your DNA and set up a program to scan nearby planets as we passed. When I found you on Earth, I had to act. I needed to get you here."

"So you killed three people and my marine?" Gibbs was livid. "Over a petty grudge?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Kyra laughed cruelly. "I already had my plan in place when we passed Earth, I just decided to implement it a little earlier to get the Captain on-board when I found him there."

"Why?" Gibbs demanded. It surprised the rest of the team that he was taking a lead in the interrogation (if you could call it that). For once the Doctor was staying quiet, probably agreeing that it was Jack's business and that the best thing he could do was let him handle it. Or trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Money." Kyra said simply. "The Gravitas Pharmaceutical Group earn billions of credits with their artificial gravity sickness treatment – they didn't want some new medicine to affect their bottom line. Killing the leaders who were key to approving the new treatment means that the trade will be cancelled – and I get paid. A lot." She smiled. "Then I can afford a new ship." This last, cutting remark was directed at Jack.

"Why the hell did you bring us into this?" Gibbs looked confused.

"I needed it to look like an investigation was being done while I contacted the GPG to tell them the job was complete. I figured you were least likely to find out the truth. And you pair up so well with Jack… it was fun manipulating things so you would meet. I enjoyed staking him more than you could possibly imagine."

"What do you want from me?" Jack asked irritably. "It's not like you can kill me. And what is with the massive grudge? I only stole your ship."

"You left me." Kyra yelled. "I had no money and no way home. I had to work on an industrial liner just to get back. It took years – the worst years of my life. And because I was off planet for so long I had to join the conglomeration alliance fleet to re-qualify as a citizen. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it led me to this." Kyra was shaking in anger; it was clear that over the years bitterness had consumed her.

"What do I want from you Jack? I want your life. And since I can't take that, I want you to suffer for years as I suffered." She continued.

"You can't kill me."

"No. But don't worry, I have something worse. The GPG were very interested when I told them about you – so I sold you for a rather large price. You will spend the rest of your miserable existence being experimented on. We are all very interested in the extent of your immortality – I volunteered to help study what you can come back from. I have some creative examples in mind." Kyra sneered, her voice low and threatening. Then there was a brief flash and Jack disappeared, teleported away. At the same time Kyra also disappeared from the screen – she was clearly uninterested in anyone but Jack, and had assumed that the group posed no threat without him.

After a brief silence, the Doctor spoke up. "That was a localised teleport – Jack is still on this ship with Kyra. But I doubt they'll be here for much longer, we need to work out where they went fast…"

"Or things could get nasty." Tony finished grimly.

**Sorry for the short chapter; I'm not sure how well it turned out. It was a bit late when I wrote it. Anyway, please review if you have the time. **


	19. Chapter 19

When Jack realised he was being teleported he knew he was in trouble. But there was nothing he could do to stop it. He barely had time to examine the new surroundings when something blasted him backwards into the wall. As everything faded out he could smell burning flesh and knew it was his own.

Jack breathed, sucking air in desperately. The first thing he noticed was that his whole chest was throbbing with a searing pain – presumably he had been hit with some kind of energy weapon and his body was still repairing itself. The second thing he noticed was that he was tied up; his arms were wrenched uncomfortable behind his back and there was wire wrapped around his feet.

"It's good to see you face to face again." The real Kyra – not the robot – stepped out in front of Jack. She looked down at him coldly. "I've waited a long time for this."

"I wish I could say the same." Jack muttered. "What happened to you Kyra? You were a sweet girl." He was serious now.

"I grew up. Fast, thanks to you."

"What do you want me to say? I told you I was sorry."

"I don't want you to say anything. I want you to make me rich; that seems like fair compensation."

"Money isn't everything. Think about what you're doing."

"I have thought about it. Now shut up or I'll shoot you again." Kyra turned away from him and started to pack things from her room into a bag. Jack let his head lull back and shut his eyes, trying to stop Kyra sensing that he was in pain. She was a hard person now, and Jack couldn't help but wonder if it was his fault. Had she completely lost her moral compass because of him? He couldn't help but feel guilty for the transformation.

After a few minutes Kyra looked like she was done. She picked up her gun and turned to Jack. Reaching into her pocket, she took out what looked like a metal bracelet. Without saying anything she bent over and snapped it onto his ankle where it hung loose. Then she took out a tiny remote and pressed a small red button. Jack gasped in pain as the anklet twisted tightly round his ankle, held in place by several spikes that sank deep into his flesh. Blood ran down his foot and pooled on the floor.

"You won't be able to get it off." Kyra said with a tight smile.

"What is it?" Jack asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"It's to stop you running off. You try to escape, I'll shock you. You disobey an order, I'll shock you. You give me a funny look… well you get the idea." To illustrate her point she pressed the remote. Jack couldn't help but scream as electricity coursed through him. Kyra looked satisfied. "That was a level one shock. Next time I'll try level five. I would have done it this time, but it would kill you and I don't want to have to wait for you to resurrect. So let's go." She cut the wire around his feet and helped him upright – he found it difficult to stand as his hands were still behind his back and he was dizzy from the anklet.

"Where do you want me to go?" Jack asked.

"Straight down the corridor. In front of me so you can't try anything." Kyra said shortly. Jack sighed and slowly started walking.

"Where are we going?" He asked after a few minutes.

"To the luxury transport pod. From there we'll travel to the GVP headquarters planet and I'll get paid. Plus I can probably keep the pod." Kyra smirked. After another few minutes Kyra told Jack to stop walking as they were outside the pod. The door slid open and Jack and Kyra stepped in, the door locking behind them.

"Lights." Kyra demanded, irritated that the computer had kept the pod in darkness. As the lights flickered on, Kyra gasped. The NCIS team and the Doctor stood inside, glaring at her.

**Sorry for the short chapter :) Anyway, please post a review and let me know what you think. **


	20. Chapter 20

Immediately Kyra turned around sprinted back towards the door. But she found it locked. Desperately she reached for her gun, which was clipped to her belt. But before she could bring it up something slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Gibbs had tackled her to the floor and had wrenched the gun from her grasp. He pushed her down onto her front and started to pull her hands behind her back. But as he did, he realised she was clenching some kind of remote. She crushed her hand against it, before dropping it.

Jack gasped and arched his back before falling to the floor. He wasn't breathing. Kyra laughed as Gibbs determinedly continued, cuffing her hands behind her back. "You are under arrest." He whispered quietly but menacingly. Then he started to search her – Gibbs did not want any more surprises.

The Doctor was crouched down next to Jack. Instinctively the rest of the team knew that they needed a minute. "I am so sorry Jack." The Doctor muttered "Although I have to admit that this one wasn't my fault." He added with a slight smile. The Doctor buzzed his sonic screwdriver and the metal anklet unattached, falling to the floor. Almost straight afterwards Jack whooped in a great lungful of air and sat up, still breathing heavily. He looked disorientated and in pain. The Doctor gave him a minute to get his bearings.

"How did you know we were here?" Jack finally said.

"Since Kyra was all about money the most expensive transport pod seemed like a good guess for her escape route." Tony said from above him. Kyra gave a feral snarl from across the room, reminding everyone of her presence.

"What do we do with her?" McGee asked. "I have a feeling we're out of our jurisdiction…"

"Maybe we should-" Tony started, but he never got to finish. At that exact moment Kyra pulled the handcuffs apart with strength that Gibbs had had no idea she possessed. She lunged forwards and grabbed McGee's gun, pushing him over. She aimed at the Doctor and was just about to pull the trigger when two bullets hit her in the chest, bringing her down. Tony and Gibbs both stood there, guns raised, staring at what they had just done in shock.

Jack stared at Kyra. Her breathing was fast and shallow. It was clear she had seconds left to everyone. The once formidable Kyra looked terrified and childlike as she died. Jack lifted her onto his lap. "It's okay. You're going to be fine." He lied easily. After all, he'd had a lot of practice. Kyra whispered something too quiet for the rest of the team to hear. In response Jack leant over and kissed her gently on the lips. When he drew back she was still. Nobody asked what her last words had been.


	21. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

The TARDIS materialised in Gibb's basement, in the corner. Gibbs stepped out. He kept starting at the small blue box as though he was sure it didn't exist.

"Here you are." The Doctor also stepped out, looking happily around the basement. "Nice boat by the way." He had promised to drop everyone at home after they had written a report for the Captain of the united conglomeration ship and explained what had happened. Jack had been dropped off first, on a bar planet. As always, the Doctor had asked Jack if he wanted to stay a while, but Jack had declined.

"Kyra was all my fault." Jack had said to the Doctor as he had left.

"It was a long time ago Jack. We all make mistakes. We live with them." The Doctor had said, in an attempt to be comforting. Jack had smiled slightly and walked off, knowing they would meet again.

Next the Doctor had taken the TARDIS to Tony's apartment. He wasn't surprised when both Ziva and Tony had gotten out here. It looked as though they were supporting each other, both physically and emotionally. The two had been holding hands when they stepped out, with Gibbs looking the other way and muttering something about "rule twelve".

Now the Doctor was leaving Gibbs in his basement – he gave a small wave but didn't speak as the Doctor stepped back into his TARDIS.

Inside McGee and Abby were both standing by the console. Unlike the others they looked disappointed that they had to go home already. The Doctor walked over to them.

"How would you like to come with me?"

**And I'm done… Thank you so much to all the reviewers, especially Shara Raizel who reviewed loads! Please leave a review for the overall thing, if you want. I really enjoyed writing this; I hope you enjoyed reading it. **


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